Monthly Archives: November 2011

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Talking about compost, there’s a free composting course next month (and in the new year) at the Walworth Garden Farm with Scarlett Cannon.

On the course you’ll learn about compost making with a focus on worm composting as this is best suited to those living in an urban environment where growing space may be extremely limited. Sounds well up our street!

One of the best things you can do for your garden is to make a compost heap. It’s a brilliant way of putting something back into the earth for next to nothing!

When you add compost you’re not just improving the soil, you’re supplying plants with nutrients and elements, helping retain moisture in the ground and encouraging wildlife into your garden who will enjoy the warmth and protection of the heap. How good is that just for recycling your kitchen peelings!

A simple compost bin can be made from wood (the classic slatted version that you can add height to as the heap progresses), bricks and old carpet (definitely one to be kept out of view as even good quality Axminster will look crap after a few months outdoors!) There’s also the black plastic darlek type which some councils supply for free as part of their recycling package.

It’s best to keep the heap somewhere you can get to it easily, possibly screened off but in a sunny position as that will help add heat to the pile. Ideally you’d have two bins, one started the year or so previously which you will be using now and one that’s in the process of rotting down.

When filling the bin, put the various ingredients in layers of two or three inches deep to stop it turning into a big slushy mess which can happen when masses of lawn clippings are added. You can always add a thin layer of soil every now and again to help it along too. Turning with a fork every few months will benefit the pile, making sure it is not too compact so that air can circulate throughout it which ensures it rots down easier. Also check that the heap doesn’t dry out in the summer as moisture is also needed too.

To start off the rotting process you can use nettles, comfrey leaves and even human urine (better out of a pre-filled bottle I reckon, or your neighbours will be on the phone to the police!). As the material decomposes, the pile will start to create heat, so why not do like they did in victorian times and make a hot bed? It’s a compost heap with a raised bed on top which is kept warm from the rotting material below. Failing that if it’s in full sunlight, stick a courgette or a cucumber plant on the top of the heap which will thrive with the richness underneath.

What not to add:
Perennial weeds, bindweed and ivy which can re-sprout from their roots or stems
Sawdust
Pet waste
Diseased plants (burn them alongside the woody prunings if you can’t afford that shredder)

One tip is don’t stick in woody stems like I did, as a couple of years on I am still pulling out sticks, so be warned! Also once you’ve got a heap in progress, get into the habit of sticking your peelings into a closable container in the kitchen which you’ll later transfer to the heap.

I’m fighting with my pile at the moment as it’s a bit wet and smelly, so I’ll be leaving out the “green” material and adding more “browns” like shredded newspaper and leaves etc. Composting might be an art form but when you get it right, it’s well worth it!

If there’s ever been any regrets in my life, the biggest one was getting rid of my steel toe-capped boots when I left the council, thinking I’d never use them again after studying graphic design.

I loved those old boots. They were black and had never been polished so were well scuffed and at the front, the leather was so worn away about a quarter of the “steelie” was showing through. They’ve been ran over by my lawnmower, took many a flying brick from the whizzing mower blades and had lots of incidents with misplaced garden forks and spades, so had a “used” look to them. You could have definitely worn them to a Cramps gig!

The downside was that they were freezing when you put them on on a cold winter’s morning, stunk like high heaven mid-summer and were heavy like lead after digging on a wet day with all that London clay stuck to them.

Todays workers have never had it so good, as nowadays the style of protective steel capped footwear are limitless, from beige CAT builder’s boots, backless ladies moccasins and trainees but years ago there was only one style, the Totector boot only available in two colours, black or dark brown. They should be a design classic and be on show at the national museum of gardening alongside a donkey jacket as an example of ancient council workwear.

If you want to make yourself a great soil conditioner without spending anything (something that really appeals to me) and simply recycle what nature gives you, rake or sweep up all the dead leaves you can find in the garden (nothing evergreen, such as holly, laurel or conifers), stick them in plastic bin bags and slightly dampen them if they are not moist already. Put the bags in a corner and forget about them for about a year or two and you then should get some great “leaf mould” that’ll perk up your soil no end. It takes hardly any effort as nature does most of the work for you. And all for the cost of a bin bag.

When working for the council, the leaves used to be a constant pain in the autumn, the endless raking, sweeping and bagging up, only to come back the next day to more of the same. I had a mate, a park keeper who’d tell me he’d never had hassle with leaves and one day told me his secret. What he’d do is, use a leaf blower to blast them through the railings of the park into the road for the poor old roadsweeper to collect and bag up. Council workers eh?

A couple of weeks ago on the show, Steve Barker mentioned that the BBC will be soon be making cuts in their “drive for quality” initiative. It looks like they are thinking of replacing all local radio programmes in the evening sometime between now and April 2013. This will effectively cut all specialist shows over the whole of the BBC local radio network including On The Wire on Radio Lanchashire which has been running for over 25 years playing the best in reggae and left of centre gear. This is a cracking show which will sorely be missed if the blinking BBC have their way!

The proposals are subject to public consultation by the BBC trust. So fire off a letter now to Lord Patten, Chairman, BBC Trust, 180 Great Portland Street, London W1W 5QZ and tell him you disagree with the BBC’s initiative or go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust and look for the “consultation” button

Respect due to Steve Barker, Fenny and Jim.
Keep up the good work and don’t let the beeb trust grind your down!

When I was younger, I used to think men who kept screws and nails in tins with labels like “3/4 inch self-tapping” and “flat countersunk heads” were boring old gits who had no mates and spent far too much time on their own in garden sheds.

It’s funny as I get older, I’m liking putting things into tins and boxes. I’ve got plastic garden ties in a jam jar, used garden wire in another and my seed collection is split into “veg” in a lovely oval Scottish shortbread tin and “flowers” in a Persil non-bio plastic container. Those who don’t remember the past are condemned to repeat it, eh?

Thinking about boxes, when we were kids at Christmas my mum used to buy a big tin of Family Circle biscuits as a treat. Rather than let us all dip in and take all the best ones, there was a rule in our house that we could only had “two plain and one fancy” per sitting. Under the plain category were Rich Tea and the like, with fancy being Bourbon and above. The pinnacle of the biscuits would be the chocolate coated ones in coloured foil which you’d only get five per tin. The youth of today have never had it so good, bring back national service etc.